Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi on behalf of Samoa has endorsed the "Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons".
The signing of the treaty took place in New York at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly meeting.
“As a signatory to this historic treaty, we wanted to demonstrate unequivocally our aspiration to have a world without nuclear weapons,” Malielegaoi told the UN General Assembly in his address.
“The conventional narrative that the possession of nuclear weapons will act as deterrent to make the world a safer place to live, is not borne out by the current realities otherwise the developments in the Korean peninsula would not have happened at all,” he added.
PM Malielegaoi reiterated that Samoa firmly believe that possessing nuclear weapons and adding new nuclear powers only make our world less safe and there is a need to get rid of nuclear weapons.
“No matter the noble goal for having such arsenals, availing them to the wrong and unprincipled hands is a recipe for doom and mayhem, as people, after all, are human and mere mortals,” he continued.
“As small island Pacific countries, we are no longer protected by our isolation - we are bystanders but with the greatest to lose in the unfolding power drama being played out in the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
“We pray for visionary leadership with sound moral judgment on both sides to ensure we give peace a chance.”
The Treaty – adopted on 7 July this year at a UN conference in New York by a vote of 122 in favour to one against (Netherlands), with one abstention (Singapore) – prohibits a full range of nuclear-weapon-related activities, such as undertaking to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as well as the use or threat of use of these weapons.
42 United Nations member countries have signed the Treaty, with more expected.
The Treaty will enter into force 90 days after it has been ratified by at least 50 countries.